Quick takeaways on the news that the Jets have decided to hire former Seahawks VP of football administration John Idzik as their new general manager:

1. What they did: The Jets veered off course. They set out trying to find a GM with deep roots in scouting and personnel, but they chose a longtime executive who made his bones on the business side, dealing mostly with salary-cap management and contract negotiations. The Jets will present Idzik as a hybrid -- he attended personnel meetings in Seattle -- but that's not his area of expertise. Like former GM Mike Tannenbaum, he's a capologist making the crossover. They needed a leader who sees the world from a scout's perspective, not an executive who learned his football in a room.

2. Narrow view: This was a short-sighted decision. Owner Woody Johnson wanted someone to clean up the messy cap situation ($19.4 million over) and the number of bloated contracts. The real problem is a thin roster. One of the candidates told me the Jets need to replace 12 starters, conservatively. Yes, the Jets have contract issues, but they're in this cap predicament is because of poor talent evaluations, over-valuing players such as Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes and David Harris. They're paying Holmes like a top-10 receiver; any personnel man worth his stopwatch will tell you he's not even in the top 20.

3. Outside the box: This move smacks of the 1980s Jets, when they always left the league scratching its head because of against-the-grain decisions. Seven teams were in the GM market. The first six opted for executives with personnel backgrounds; the Jets went the other way. Are they smarter than everyone else? As one longtime GM told me, "This isn't the time to put a cap guy in charge."

4. The Rex factor: The big question is, what does this mean for Rex Ryan? In the short term, it could be mean more influence in personnel matters. Like Tannenbaum, Idzik probably will lean heavily on Ryan for input. Ryan can pick defensive linemen (Muhammad Wilkerson), but that's about it. We all know he has a blind spot when it comes to offense. He pushed to draft Sanchez in 2009 when the scouts wanted Josh Freeman. This sets up a potentially dangerous situation: The coach should coach, the GM should be pick the players -- except, in this case, the GM never has picked players. How do they fill the void? Maybe assistant GM Scott Cohen sticks around in a personnel role.

5. Chucky: Idzik is stuck with Ryan for at least a year, but he controls his fate in 2014. Cue the Jon Gruden rumors. Idzik spent 11 seasons in the Bucs' front office, overlapping for three years with Gruden -- and one of those years produced a Lombardi Trophy. If Idzik decides to replace Ryan and wants to stay in his most recent past, the obvious choice is Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell -- if another team doesn't scoop him up.

6. Smart and savvy: I've heard a lot of positives about Idzik. Smart guy, I'm told. Graduated with honors from Dartmouth, where he also played football. Earned a master's degree from Duke. It takes more than brains to succeed. The Jets, with the circus atmosphere, need a grown up in the room, someone who can change the culture. Idzik grew up in football; his father, John, was a longtime NFL assistant, including three seasons with the Jets in the late 1970s. Ryan's father, too, is a former Jets assistant, and you just know they will try to sell that at the news conference, as if that obscure connection will somehow bond them.

7. Branching out: Idzik has made an effort to learn the football side. In recent years, he got involved in personnel, trying to absorb the Xs and Os. He was a wide receiver at Dartmouth and had a cup of coffee as a low-level college assistant, so we're not talking about a board-room bean counter. But he's never been in charge of a pro or college scouting department. Said one league source: "Football is more about instinct than IQ. This isn't IBM, it's football."

8. In like Flynn: The Jets need a quarterback and Idzik's former team, the Seahawks, might be looking to trade one -- Matt Flynn. He signed a free-agent contract last year for three years, $19.5 million, but he never saw the field because of Russell Wilson's emergence. Seattle officials say they're willing to listen to offers; Flynn's contract is tradeable.

9. Organizational philosophy: Expect the Jets to remain active in the trade market. In recent years, the Seahawks have been one of the most aggressive trading teams, acquiring the likes of Marshawn Lynch and Leon Washington. The Seahawks are an organization on the rise, and Idzik played a role in that. But they've had their share of hiccups, too -- bad contracts (Sidney Rice, $41 million) and bad draft picks (LB Aaron Curry). Until Russell Wilson, there was quarterback instability.

Rapid Reaction: Is Idzik a good hire?They needed a leader who sees the world from a scout's perspective, not an executive who learned his football in a room.

Learned in a room?

A native of Detroit, Idzik graduated with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors from Dartmouth College in 1982 earning a bachelorís degree in mathematics, where he also played wide receiver for the Ivy League Champion Big Green.

Idzik spent the 1991-92 seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Duke University, where he assisted with the offensive line and running backs. In 1990 he was the offensive backfield coach for the Aberdeen Oilers (Scotland) of the British American Football League. Idzikís first coaching assignment came in 1982 as receivers coach at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

As intelligentjetsfan has said, we're dealing with a gossip columnist and not a journalist here. Cimini tries to dress it up with supposed "analysis", but gossip in fancy clothes is still gossip. I continue to be reminded of the Robert Duvall character in The Natural.

Cimini. Do you read your own stuff?

Idzik played football, and comes from a football family. Tanny was an accountant/lawyer and his parents owned a deli on the upper west side where the question of the day was "is the pastrami lean?" Here, have a taste. Cmon, lets keep an open mind for gods sake

The first 4 points are pretty negative, but the rest aren't as bad. I'd love Cimini to point out all the great candidates the Jets could have chosen that would be better. Idzik has strong credentials, is coming from an organization that has really made a lot of great personnel moves the past 2 years, and seems to have a background in both managing the business side and personnel.

What an effing moron. They couldn't have constructed a better candidate. He has been in administration in the most recent part of his career but before that he had plenty of experience on the personnel side. It is really the ideal path to being a GM. Who'd want someone straight out of the scouting pool to dive straight into the deep end as the GM without administrative background? First you get your personnel bonafides, then move up into administration, and then into the top spot. What a jello brained tool.

It's not a fantastic move - Sundquist would have been better - but it's a better move than Khan, Angelo and a lot of the other schlubs that were mentioned along the way. Izdik has had his hands on the late Seahawks, the Kurt Warner Cardinals and another successful organization before that that has escaped my mind and I'm too lazy to Google.

The NY Sports Media, and select JI Posters, will hate the move regardless of who we hire, sign or employ. They'll alwasy be "bad choices, we coulda done better" because tat way, they can always complain about how they "were rght" about it later. They root for failure, enjoy it more than wins, and wallow in it for the attention it brings them when they extoll thier wisdom about it.

It's not a fantastic move - Sundquist would have been better - but it's a better move than Khan, Angelo and a lot of the other schlubs that were mentioned along the way. Izdik has had his hands on the late Seahawks, the Kurt Warner Cardinals and another successful organization before that that has escaped my mind and I'm too lazy to Google.

Tampa for 11 years. but why pan the guy without even giving him time to say hello? Very typical SOJ response. Our MAIN problem is the cap hell we are in. Re personnel Sundquist is not better then Bradway. Idzik has experience in personnel evaluations as well. 11 years worth in tampa and Seattle had him current out scouting talent. Ya think he might know something that would benefit the Jets?

The NY Sports Media, and select JI Posters, will hate the move regardless of who we hire, sign or employ. They'll alwasy be "bad choices, we coulda done better" because tat way, they can always complain about how they "were rght" about it later. They root for failure, enjoy it more than wins, and wallow in it for the attention it brings them when they extoll thier wisdom about it.

well said that is true about many people on this site. They root for failure so they can post that they were right. I called them self hating Jets fans.